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Twelve out of Twelve
I don’t know about you, but I love trying new wines, the wines I never had before. When I’m in the wine store, I like to take a slow walk and look for the wines which look interesting enough to try – the region I trust, cool label, and maybe most importantly, reasonably priced.
Value is an interesting concept, for sure when it comes to wine. Wine values can be absolute and relative. Wine under $10 represents an absolute value, especially if it is a tasty wine. This applies to both known and unknown wines – Bogle Petite Sirah, which would be well known in my book, is an example of such an absolute value, always priced close to the $10, and always tasty. But even if I don’t know the wine, $10 for a bottle which hopefully will be tasty is still a good value.
When it comes to the wines you know, and most importantly, desire, the concept of value becomes relative – a $100 bottle of wine is still not cheap at $50 on sale or closeout, but it is a tremendous value.
So, let’s get back to that store where we are looking for the new wines to try, preferably in the absolute value category. Let’s say we will get a case of 12 different wines to try. What are the chances of you liking and enjoying all twelve wines? It is a possibility, but from my personal experience, the chances are not very high. Based on my experience I usually would really enjoy 3-4 bottles and I will be okay with another 3 or 4, and I would wish that I never bought the rest.
Now, let’s take this exercise to the next level. What if you will give a stranger $150, and ask him or her to surprise you with a case of 12 different bottles – how would you estimate your chances then? How many bottles would you possibly like out of the box of 12?
I recently conducted such an experiment. Okay, we can say that it was a stranger, but this stranger was a wine pro – but still, the wine pro who knows nothing about your preferences. How do I mean it? My stranger was the Last Bottle Wines, a so-called wine flash sale site. Last Bottle folks always run special events, usually called Marathons, especially around the holidays. Last Halloween, Last Bottle Wines offered a number of mystery cases – you have no idea what will be inside, you can only know that you will pay X for something which otherwise would be 2.5X or 3X. I was lucky enough to see the $144 mystery case offer and to pull the plug without much thought. How lucky? See the title of this post – that’s how.
Twelve out of twelve. Believe it or not, but I enjoyed every one of those bottles. Each one was delicious, and I would happily buy each one again, especially if offered at $12 – this was the actual price per bottle in my mystery case.
This mystery case was just perfect for someone who always wants to try something new. 12 different bottles, 7 from the USA (California, Washington, Oregon), 5 from around the world (3 from France, 1 from Spain, and 1 from Chile). I enjoyed two bottles with Thanksgiving dinner, and I just opened the last bottle a few days ago, so now I can share the experience. I still had a bit of trepidation opening the new bottle – what if the luck will break – but it didn’t. Twelve out of twelve. Each one delicious, and worth drinking again. Take a look at my notes:
2016 Brassfield Estate Eruption Volcano Ridge Vineyard High Valley Appellation (14.8% ABV, blend of Malbec, Syrah, Zinfandel, Petite Sirah, and Mourvèdre)
Outstanding – inviting nose, red and black fruit, eucalyptus, full body, drinkable from the get-go, excellent overall (8+)
2017 Domaine l’Abbé Dîne Côtes du Rhône (14.5% ABV, 80% Grenache (vines planted in the 1960s), 18% Syrah, 2% Mourvèdre) delicious from the get-go. Bigger body than a typical Cotes du Rhone, red fruit, soft, voluptuous and sexy, roll-of-the-tongue smooth, perfect balance. Another delicious and easy to drink wine (8+).
2016 Bodegas Patrocinio Zinio 200 Rioja Alta DOC (14% ABV, 90% Tempranillo, 10% Graciano) – restrained and earthy. A bit too restrained for my Rioja preferences, but still very characteristic of Rioja with cedar box, red fruit, and eucalyptus. Needs time (8-)
2018 Azur Rosé California (12.5% ABV, blend of Grenache, Syrah, a blend of Napa and other appellations) – beautiful pale pink color with copper undertones, strawberries on the nose, hint of strawberries with lemon undertone on the palate, the second day showing mostly crisp and vibrant acidity. Elegant, Provence-like as advertised. (8)
2017 Casino Mine Ranch Vermentino Shenandoah Valley, California (14.1% ABV) – never had wines from Shenandoah Valley. Delicious. Nose resembling classic Gewurztraminer, with honeysuckle and white stone fruit. The palate is fresh, vibrant, a good amount of fruitiness, well supported by acidity, perfectly balanced. Perfectly passes my white wine excellence test – delicious from the fridge, but also delicious at room temperature. (8+)
2017 Chateau Perbal Cabernet Sauvignon Family Selection Central Valley, Chile (14% ABV) – a big surprise. I typically consider that I can easily identify Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon by a substantial green component (pyrazines, bell pepper) – this wine had none. Round, smooth, touch of cassis, eucalyptus, mint – easy to drink and delicious. (8)
2016 Belle Fiore Winery Cabernet Sauvignon Rogue valley Oregon (14.5% ABV) – never had before Cabernet Sauvignon from Oregon. Elegant, classic, cassis, eucalyptus, anise, round, soft tannins, good acidity, perfect balance – excellent overall. (8/8+)
2019 Domaine La Milliere Ceielles Vignes Côtes du Rhône AOC (15% ABV) – clearly a young wine at first, bursts with the freshly crushed berries, but settles down into round, open, easy to drink wine – raspberries and blueberries, a touch of herbs, easy to drink. (8-)
2017 Theorize Zinfandel California (14.6% ABV) – a strange wine to a degree, almost a single note, but that single note delivers perfection – delicious sweet tobacco. Fresh, clean, good acidity, good balance, but that sweet tobacco is the theme, from the first drop to the last. This might not be the wine for everyone, but it is definitely the wine for me. (8)
2017 J. Wilkes Cabernet Sauvignon Paso Robles (14% ABV) – tart nose of dusty berries and herbs, clean, uplifting, fresh palate, the right amount of raspberries and blackberries, a touch of anise, easy to drink, inviting, delicious. (8)
2013 Beresan Winery The Buzz Yello Jacket Vineyard Walla Walla Valley (14.4% ABV, 30% Syrah, 30% Merlot, 25% Cabernet Franc, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Malbec) – upon opening, the wine was a bit aggressive and disjointed. At the same time, it was a typical unapologetic Washington wine, but I was able to enjoy it only on the third day when it mellowed out and became more balanced and round. This can probably be solved with decanting (7+/8-)
2018 Chateau Beauregard Ducasse Graves AOC (13% ABV, 40% Sauvignon Blanc, 60% Semillon) – this wine was opened before its time. Closed on the first day just with some acidic notes, it beautifully blossomed on the second day, showing ripe apple, honeysuckle, nice creaminess, round and perfectly balanced. (8/8+)
Here you go, my friends – twelve out of twelve. How well do you score having someone picking the wines for you?
Holiday Madness! Holiday Madness! Last Bottle Holiday Marathon Madness, December 15th
It is time to flex your fingers and make sure they are in the perfect shape, as tomorrow you will have to do a lot of clicking. Last Bottle, the purveyors of the fine wines at value prices, in its traditional just-in-time, ready-or-not-here-I-come fashion, announced its widely anticipated Holiday Marathon Madness.
Tomorrow, December 15th, starting at 9 AM Pacific/12 PM Eastern, Last Bottle website will be featuring amazing wines at amazing prices, disappearing faster than you can say “wine”, never mind clicking the “buy” button – this is where you will need that index finger strength and agility, if you want to acquire any of those treasures, instead of just watching them pass by.
No announcements of any kind, no emails, no tweets – just keep clicking that “refresh” browser button to see the new offers. No minimums to buy (single bottles are perfectly fine) to get free shipping. All orders will be combined together and shipped at once in January. That’s it – no more special rules.
Just a little advice – be sure to be logged in into your account before you start great deal hunting – split seconds will separate success and failure of your order. Don’t believe me? Prepare to be disappointed then – I’ve been in that boat way too many times.
Before we part: when I mention Last Bottle, in case you don’t have an account with them already (and you need one if you want to buy the wines), I always offer an opportunity to sign up – if you will sign up using this link, you will get $10 off your first purchase, and yes, I will get $30 after your first purchase. The beauty is that moving forward, you can sign up your friends, and now you will be the one to get $30 after they will buy the wine from the Last Bottle – plus, all of a sudden, you fill find yourself all so much more popular!
Okay, enough reading – go back to that finger exercise, you should be in a perfect shape for tomorrow.
Happy [great value wine] Hunting!
Here is What You Probably Missed – Last Bottle Wines 5th Anniversary Marathon Madness
The Last Bottle, purveyor of the fine wines at a great value prices, is turning 5 (5 years old it is), and to celebrate this occasion, Last Bottle does it in their best possible style – by giving away offering crazy amount of crazy wines at crazy prices in the format of their inimitable Marathon Madness.
For those of you who still might not know what Last Bottle Wine is: Last Bottle Wine is an online wine store specializing in so called “Flash” wine sales – they offer wines at a very substantial discounts (sometimes reaching 80%), also with free shipping if required minimum number of bottles is purchased, which is typically 3 to 6 bottles. Last Bottle Wines selection is outstanding, offering wines from well known producers, which are often also hard to find. You need to have an account to buy from Last Bottle Wines, so in case you don’t have one yet, I will be glad to be your “reference” and you can use this link to sign up. If you sign up using this link, you will get $5 credit on your first order. Yes, I will get $20 bonus for signing you up – but remember that it will be you who will get $20 next time around when you will sign up your friends – and believe me, your friends will be thanking you profusely. To see why your friends will be thanking you, read on.
The Marathon Madness was announced only on Wednesday, hence the title of this post. However, it is not all lost yet – Friday 04/29 will be the second day of the marathon, and if anything will be left to sell, it will continue over the weekend (however, I doubt that). The great thing about Marathon is that the minimum quantity requirement doesn’t apply – you can buy wines by single bottles and still get the same great discount.
What I did today is to try to capture information about some of the offered wines. During marathon, the wines are sold at an incredible speed, sometimes within literally half a second (think of it as a clicking competition), so it is very difficult to collect meaningful information about the wines been sold. I spent a bit of time refreshing the browser window and capturing the pictures, so below is what I was able to collect. Note the pedigree, the prices, and most importantly (for me), the vintages – lots of offered wines are of the older vintages – 1994, 1998, 2000, etc., which means that they are perfectly ready to drink – this is priceless in my opinion.
Without further ado, here is what you probably missed (a very small subset of it):
Daily Glass: Buy By The Name, Remember By The Taste
Winemakers must be some of the most creative people in the world. It is not enough to make a tasty wine (well, at some point it is – it is not easy to reach that point though, not at all) – but the wine also have to make it into a consumer’s hands – yep, someone have to buy it. Selling the wine is not easy, as you need to differentiate from hundreds and hundreds of seemingly indistinguishable bottles. To get there, winemakers have two primary choices of weapons – the label and the name.
I’m a sucker for a good wine label, but right now I just want to talk about the name. Have you ever heard the name of the wine and said “this is it, I must try it”? I had, a number of times. And the wine I want to talk about was exactly such a case.
When I saw the name “Rhapsody En Blu”, somehow, it was speaking to me. I didn’t care what kind of wine was that, what grapes it was made of or what region it came from. The name alone was enough to incite the desire. I don’t remember when did I see this wine name for the first time, but ever since I did, I was on a lookout for it. So when I saw it at the last Last Bottle Wines “everything must go” marathon, my fingers were moving really, really fast – and I got the bottle.
I was tempted a few times to open it, and then Friday night seemed to be a good enough occasion (or may be it was the fact that it was an eve of OTBN). The cork is pulled out, wine goes into the glass. I take a sniff and “oh my god” was the only thing I could say (my wife can attest to this). The smell was exuberant without going overboard – crushed berries, crushed rocks, underbrush, spices, all together warm, inviting and – harmonious. The taste perfectly supported the aroma – gentle ripe fruit, plums, smoke, roasted meat, touch of pepper – perfect acidity, good structure, good power, and once again, perfect balance and – perfect harmony.
According to the Wikipedia, “a rhapsody in music is a one-movement work that is episodic yet integrated, free-flowing in structure, featuring a range of highly contrasted moods, colour and tonality. An air of spontaneous inspiration and a sense of improvisation make it freer in form than a set of variations.” Tasting this wine, that “spontaneous inspiration” and “improvisation” were very easy to relate to.
This wine, 2012 R Squared Wine Company Rhapsody En Blu Red Rhone Blend, Santa Barbara County (14.1% ABV, 42% Grenache, 38% Carignan, 20% Mourvedre) is produced by the R2 (R Squared) Wine Company which makes both blends and single varietal wines from multiple appellations in California. If you care to know, my Drinkability rating for this wine is 8+.
I don’t know if the great match between the name and the wine itself was the accident or a prophecy, but I can tell you that I strongly regret buying only one bottle of this wine. Not sure if you can find it (total production was only 475 cases), but if you will, don’t repeat my mistake.
There is also one more bonus which comes with this wine – it is very easy to pair with music. And the matching pairing should be … yes, Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue! If you can’t find the wine, you can at least enjoy the music. Cheers!
Star Wars Last Bottle Wines Marathon – Starting Thursday, December 17
Finding great wine at even greater price is one of my favorite pet peeves, so I have to share this with you: Chrismukkapalooza (after publishing the post I learned that it was actually a Star Wars themed marathon, which coincides with the release of Star Wars flick #7) Last Bottle Wine Marathon is starting this Thursday, December 17th!
Yes, you heard me right – free up the room in your cellars, people. Last Bottle Wines is one of the very best purveyors of the fine wines at value wine prices, so their marathon events are not to be missed.
Starting at 12 pm US Eastern tine, the new wines will be offered at neck-breaking – sorry, rather finger-and-wallet-breaking – speed. You will have only split seconds to buy the wines, or they will be gone. There are no notifications of any kind during marathon, so all you can do is to hit refresh in your browser over and over again to see the new deals. Make sure you will be logged into your account during the process, because this will make a difference between “yes!” and “damn it!” (been there, done that many times). There are no minimums to get free shipping – all your orders will be accumulated and shipped at once a few days after marathon is over. The marathon will last for 2 days, but it can be shorter or longer, depending on how quickly all the wines will be sold out – and we are talking about 500 wines and 50,000 bottles. You will be also earning 2% back on every purchase, as usual, but not the $25 on the very last bottle.
Now, I’m sure many of you are already aware of Last Bottle wines and already have accounts with them. But for those of you who don’t have an account (and you need one to be able to buy the wines), you can use the link below to sign up:
http://www.lastbottlewines.com/invite/4618917ef4f90628fb70367611992bc630d41515.html
If you sign up using this link, you will get $5 credit on your first order. Yes, I will also get $20 bonus for signing you up – but remember that it will be you who will get $20 next time around when you will sign up your friends – and believe me, your friends will be thanking you profusely.
Happy Fine Wine hunting! Cheers!
Last Bottle Wines Earthquake Marathon Madness – Tomorrow Starting at Noon Eastern
Apologies for the second post in a day, but I just got the e-mail and I have to share it with you. Only today I told you about the WTSO marathon event coming in September, and in about 20 minutes after I pressed the “publish” button, the e-mail announcement came in from the Last Bottle Wines, another purveyor of the fine wines at the value prices.
But before I will tell you about the marathon, I want to mention the important initiative by the Last Bottle Wines. As you know, few days ago Napa Valley was affected by the earthquake. Thousands of people were affected, and as it often happens, those in need are affected the most. Last Bottle Wines donated $5,000 to the Napa Valley Food Bank, and if you want to help, you can donate as well by CLICKING HERE.
Now, starting tomorrow at Noon Eastern/ 9 am Pacific, Last Bottle Wines will run their marathon sale event called Earthquake Marathon Madness.
The wines will be offered at a neck-breaking speed – no notifications of any sort – you just have to click “refresh” in your browser. No minimum purchase, and all wines will ship for free (within 48 states) in a few weeks. Of course you need to have an account with Last Bottle Wines, and I suggest you will be logged in with your credit card information set, if you want to catch any of the wines which will be sold. In case you don’t have an account, I will be glad to be your “reference” – you can use this link to sign up, and if you will, you will get $5 credit – yes, I will get $20 credit as well – but next time it will be you, when you will sign up your friends…
Happy Wine Wednesday, Happy Hunting and Cheers!
My Case For Bringing The End Of The World Back
And why would anyone want to bring that “end of the world” craziness back, you ask? I’m sure many of the “preparedness kit” sellers would love that, as they would make ton of money [again]. My case is exactly opposite – I’m talking about saving money. On the critical “end of the world” necessity. Yep, wine.
As you could’ve notice in this blog, I’ve been a long time aficionado of Wine Til Sold Out (WTSO), which offers amazing savings on the wines. About half a year back, thedrunkencyclist introduced me to another value wine source – Last Bottle Wines. Last Bottle Wines operates very similarly to WTSO – one wine at a time, usually at a great price, and minimum number of bottles to buy in order to get free shipping. There are few differences compare to WTSO – for one, the wines are not shipped during hot months, unless you will make special arrangements (everything you buy is accumulated and shipped once weather allows). Another distinction is the fact that less than $10 wines are offered quite often.
Getting back to the “end of the world” connection. Couple of days before the end of the world was supposed to take place (December 21st, 2012 for those who happily dropped that date from the memory), Last Bottle Wines declared “end of the world” marathon. They were offering tremendous number of wines at a great prices, with no minimum quantity in order to get free shipping. Caveat? If the world ends, you are not getting your wines. Fair? I think so. Also, all the wines you buy are accumulated into one order which shipped after the new year. Fair again.
The only way to learn about new offerings was by clicking “refresh” in your browser all the time. But this inconvenience was a small price to pay for the gems which were offered. Well, forget the gems – great value wines we are talking about.
Need an example of a great value wine? Easy. 2007 Vine Hill Gatos Locos Pinot Noir Santa Cruz Mountains. Beautiful smoky nose. Dark dense fruit on the palate, ripe plums but precisely ripe and not over-extracted, coffee notes. Supple tannins, good acidity. Structure. Finesse. Balance. All for $9 (no, I’m not missing at least 1 in front or 0 at the end). And the person of a limited intelligence, who is writing this right now (yep, me), bought only two bottles (!). Well my only excuse – I had no idea…
All in all I got 5 different wines, for the total of one case (12 bottles), for which I paid a whooping $78…
I also tried 2006 Clos Chanteduc Cotes du Rhone, which was very good, but not as amazing as the Gatos Locos Pinot.
So this is my case for asking to bring the “end of the world” back – may be, may be the Last Bottle Wines would do another sale, and I will be able to find more great wines at a great prices. On another hand, there is always hope that they would just have another sale without waiting for the next “end of the world” to be declared. We can even drink to that. Cheers!
Last Bottle Sign Up ($10 credit)
Talk-A-Vino 